Today’s reading in Matthew covers Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Every time I read this sermon, it astonishes me at the authority Jesus has over the definition of righteousness. When you really think about it, these are the words of God Himself speaking to each of us. There is nothing hidden behind the rules of the “law”. It is God telling us exactly what He expects from each of us. I think we would be well served if we read through the Sermon on the Mount more often and payed greater attention to Jesus’ word on how to live a purposeful life.
2013 Day 106 – Matthew 5-7, Psalm 61
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted in Daily Reading
Daily Devotion 
What a fitting reading after the bombing in Boston. The first two “beatitudes” stood out to me. I love how the CEV puts it:
God blesses those people
who depend only on him.
They belong to the kingdom
of heaven![b]
4 God blesses those people
who grieve.
They will find comfort!
With the world in the state that it’s in, people are scared. People are mourning. Even I, last night, was shaking my head asking God, “What can we do? How can we plan? How can we be prepared?” His response last night? “Trust me.” And then I get up this morning and read this. It is vital that as followers of Christ (and I direct this more to myself than anyone else), we do not give into fear. We need to be beacons of hope and of peace for those around us who are frightened. The Kingdom of God works completely backwards than that of the earth. It’s a kingdom that is inviting, is hope and is peace (doesn’t offer hope and peace, it IS hope and peace. Big difference.) We have to be reflections of that for people. The world is hurting and people are looking for something real, something authentic that they can put their trust in. Until people find the true source of hope and peace, they will flail around looking to government, their job, their money, their friends, their family, attempts to control others in order to control their own lives…the list goes on. We must be anchored in that hope and peace. And the only way to stay anchored is to vigilantly guard our relationship with God. Keep that communication on going and constant.
Well said!